Jane+TuteinLBF

Executive Summary
Approximately 230 respondents answered 18 questions in the Learning, Boredom and Fun online survey. Four of the 18 questions collected demographic data that revealed that respondents' age ranged from 7 years old to 72 years old with 42% male and 58% female. In general, respondents are highly educated. Approximately 20% had elementary to high school education, 31% had taken some or completed a vocational degree or undergraduate degree, and 51% had some graduate education or completed a graduate degree.

// Analysis Methods // My analysis of the survey data began by browsing and comparing the boring and fun question responses within Survey Monkey and then I proceeded to download the short answer questions into Excel. In Excel, I examined the Settings/Context and Why Boring/Why Fun questions and developed some categories and counted the number of responses for categories. I used categories of Formal Academic, Formal Work, Informal, Life Long Learning, and Academic Field Trip for the settings/context categories. I used the categories of instructor style, content, instructional methods, interaction, activity, environment, success, individualized, and mentally and/or physically challenging, when examining the reasons given for a boring or fun experience. After getting a understanding of commonalities and differences between boring and fun regardless of gender, age, education level, I then used Survey Monkey filters to explore age, gender and education level to see if there were commonalities and differences but I didn't find anything notable. // Commonalities of Boring and Fun Experiences // The survey data showed that it is not a particular setting or topic that characterize a fun and boring learning experience. In fact, the examples given for both fun and boring experiences include formal academic classes from K-12 though graduate school in all subject areas to formal work-related settings and topics to life-long learning topics such as a sewing or surfing class to informal settings such as art museum or a camping trip. Furthermore, respondents reported high levels of listening, watching and remembering requirements for both boring and fun experiences. // Differences of Boring and Fun Experiences // The differences between boring and fun experience center around levels of interaction, levels of activity and intellectual challenge. I n general, fun experiences involved content that was interesting to the learner, an engaging instructor, interaction with others, a variety of activities and feelings of real accomplishment and success. In contrast, boring experiences involved instructors with poor style, content that was not interesting or relevant, lecture as the sole instructional method, little interaction with instructor or others, minimal requirements for critical or creative thinking and poor environments.

What Makes Learning Boring?
Respondents typically reported several reasons when answering the question "Why was this experience boring to you?" The reasons dealt with instructor style, course content, instructional methods, levels of activity and interaction, environmental issues, intellectual challenge and feelings of success/failure. I'll explore four reasons and one setting in more detail in this section. 1. **Instructor style was a common factor of a boring class according to 106 of 232 respondents.** Respondents were critical of instructors that had one or more of the following characteristics: a monotone voice, no enthusiasm, accent hard to understand, slow pace, arrogant, and unorganized. For example, Billy Bob, a student in an advanced placement geometry class said, "Usually // I find Geometry a fascinating subject but the way the instructor presented the material made it tedious. The teacher was definitely bored of the subject, no passion in his presentation, and droned on with a constant monotone voice. No attempt was made to answer any of the students questions as he would simply answer, "Examples are on page so-and-so // ."  Another example is provided by Sparty, who said, "The //instructor prided himself on being a PhD (which he mentioned multiple times each lecture). He made us feel inferior and therefore we tuned him out; why would we want to listen to someone who thinks we're all idiots? He made no effort to make the material relevant to Organization Development (which was the area of study for ALL students in the class)."//  2.  **Course content was an important factor of a boring experience for 80 respondents.** Learners cited "n ot interested in subject", "topic not relevant", "content not challenging, beginner level", "no practical context or application to real world" and "dry, boring topic".

Shel 's comments about a physics class when she was a 20-year student illustrate the problems with the lecture-only method without interaction or activities //"no// // interaction. the prof could have taken something and blown it up or had us each do something that would have had us working in groups...instead, he just yacked away" // Mabecca described her issues as //"// // subject matter: computer technology and how the internet will change the world. It should have been exciting as this took place in the early 1980's, but the online instructor had a monotone voice. It was held after lunch. The conference room was warm and put many of us to sleep // ." Big Bisquit described the self-paced e-learning course he participated in, as "I //had to sit through hours of compliance training and take a test at the end of the course. The training was all common knowledge but we had to listen to it all. We could not navigate to the end. I still had to pay attention to answer the questions at the end. The boredom arose from lack of interaction or mental stimulation. A drone delivery from the recorded online speaker and no critical thinking on my part made for a boring experience.//"
 * 3. A lack of variety in instructional methods was the reason 135 respondents gave as an element in a boring experience****.** Lecture with visuals or without visuals was the common instructional method cited by the 135 bored respondents. Furthermore, 43 of the 135 said just sitting and listening with no other activities was a problem while 63 of the 135 said lack of interaction was a problem.
 * 4. Environmental problems were a factor of a boring experience for 50 respondents.** Comments were " distracting – couldn't hear", "dark room", "drab room", "too warm", "cramped"," smelly" and "couldn't see visuals ".
 * 5. Online courses are boring for the same reasons given for boring face-to-face instruction according to 14 respondents.**  The fourteen experiences included some academic topics (5 of 14) but most were work related courses (nine of 14). The experiences involved different online course formats from live instructor-led (eight of 14) using web or video conferencing to self-paced electronic content (six of 14).

Respondents typically reported several reasons when answering the question "Why was this experience fun for you?" The reasons dealt with instructor style, course content, instructional methods, levels of activity and interaction, environmental issues, intellectual or physical challenge, experiencing success, offering choices to address personal preferences, and collaborating with others. I'll explore five reasons in more detail in this section.

 1. ** A variety of instructional methods including hands-on activities and interaction with others were the reasons given for a fun experience by 160 of 231 respondents **. Respondents cited short lectures, hands-on activities, doing not just listening, no note-taking, different speakers and activities, team work, presenting, and problem-solving as examples of different instructional methods. One example given by Nick I described a fun experience in high school biology when he was 15 years old as, " // This experience was fun, because it was hands on like all dissections, but the instructor made it fun by including the cooking and eating part of the assignment. "

// Another example was the comment of Lou, describing a jazz class she took in college and attributing fun to the variety of instructional methods. "//The instructor did a really good job mixing up the activities in class, you never knew if we were going to have guest come in and play for us, listen to old recordings, have a discussion or lecture. He did a great job of relating all the material to things that were relevant to us and exposing us to a variety of different styles. I thought playing the game was a fun way to test our knowledge it was interesting to see how much we all knew and we had fun too."//  2. ** Experiences that involved mental or physical challenges were a factor in an experience described as fun by 35 respondents. ** Examples given of fun experiences that involved physical and mental challenges include learning to surf, attending Boy Scout Summer camp, and learning Latin dances. Examples given of fun learning that involved mental challenges include thinking critically in order to defend positions and reasons, thinking creatively in drawing, drama, economic, and art history classes, competing in a survival game, developing a weather forecast and presenting in front of others.

 3. ** Having others participate in the fun learning experience was important for 36 respondents. ** There were different reasons given for why other participants added to the "fun". In one case, it was the intellectual richness that others brought to the experience which was succinctly expressed by TP when she stated that a "big, end of year e ntrepreneurship presentation" was fun because of "…..classmates brilliant ideas for new businesses". Some respondents appreciated the collaborate learning and support offered by other participants during the experience - "students helped each other". For others, it was the family and friend sharing and bonding time - "it was fun because I was with my friends and my foster brother".

 4. ** Experiencing success is a factor of fun learning for 20 respondents. ** Success was described differently by the respondents but in all cases it involved achieving a goal. For example, Cassie said the experience of learning to ride a bike when she was six was fun because " i // t was the exhilaration of learning something new and realizing that I really could do it. It was also the thrill of hearing my dad say that he was proud of me. He didn't say it very often. //// " // RP stated that the experience of conducting research at the National Archives for her PHD in history was fun because it gave //"// // A sense of personal accomplishment and moving towards a goal." //   5. ** Learning is fun when it offers me choices that allow me to create a personal, individual experience according to 24 respondents. ** Choice was characterized by what was learned, how learned, how paced and with whom. Comments from three respondents of different ages, gender and education levels describe how choices positively influenced the learning and made it fun for each. CM9573, a male high school student describes a fun learning experience at Lego Land when he was 10 years old as //"// // This was fun because we got to choose the robot we wanted to use and program it to throw ball either by placing a censor or by a timer. We also chose how the robot moved." //  Carol, a 61 year old who completed some high school said a sewing class she took when she was 25 was fun " // Because I liked being able to look at my own pattern and make something that I wanted and I really liked having the time to learn at my own pace and in my own way. By being at my own station I could take the time to figure things out and I did not have to worry about what everyone else is doing" // DG, a 22 year old who has completed some undergraduate school described an assignment in high school history class as fun because "The //instructor gave us choices on how the gather and present the information so that is was most appealing to us. Each student who gave a presentation was doing to on a topic he had chosen and was interested in. And because each presentation was so different it made it enjoyable to watch and listen"//

Implications
My professional roles include trainer manager, instructional designer, course developer and occasional trainer for adult learners in corporate business as well as K-12 and higher education settings who are learning how to use different software applications for their workplace. In my role as an instructional designer and course developer, I found that the survey reinforced the importance of practicing good instructional design in lesson planning. The topic or content is just one aspect of the instructional experience but it is generally where I spend most of analysis and development time. Going forward, I want to spend more time thinking about different ways to involved learners with team-based activities and allow them to share their knowledge among each other and give them choices to personalize the learning. Some ideas I have are to schedule different types of breakout sessions during the class time. For example, those who want to share with each other can participate in a separate session while others who want to practice individually can do so during this time and those who have questions for instructor can use the time for instructor interaction. The comment of pancakehead about a workplace training for Confluence software (a business-oriented wiki) is one that I will keep in mind as I design instruction. It reinforces the need to use a variety of instructional methods, allow learners to personalize the experience to make it relevant to them and build in time for fun and rewards. Pancakehead's comment was " //The training was fun because of the variety of ways it was handled. Some listening, some watching, lots of discussing, and lots of doing. It wasn't the same thing for the whole day. Also, it was a lot of fun to personalize a wiki space within Confluence. (Plus, we wrapped up the day by having a Wii bowling tournament, so we were rewarded for the long training!)"// In my role as a training manager who is responsible for hiring and evaluating instructors, I have focused on the development and standardization of instructional materials as a way of ensuring consistent standard delivery. However, this survey highlights the value associated with instructor style including enthusiasm, voice and use of humor as well as content and course knowledge that leads me to think of ways I can help instructors improve those qualities. Some immediate ideas are to add dollars in my budget for professional development and add evaluation questions to assess style issues like enthusiasm and voice.